Fixie Hub Conversion

Introduction: Fixie Hub Conversion

I converted a Schwinn '10-speed' bicycle to a Singlespeed.My rear wheel came with a Hyperglide Cassette Hub. This hub uses cogs that have inner teeth that mesh with grooves on the hub. A locknut keeps the cogs from sliding off sideways. I removed the cogs, slid a tubing spacer ring onto the hub followed by one cog and then another ring and finally the nut. Singlespeed!(More Singlespeed construction details are available all over the web.)I liked it!Just ride and forget all that gear shifting stuff.I then thought I might want to try a fixie.I needed a hub that was without a freewheel.I didn't want to spend any money on a new wheel with a track (fixed) hub.I didn't want to buy a new fixed hub and lace it onto my wheel.I decided to hack my existing freewheel.I fixed it!

Comments

whilst being able to rearrange and customise the gears on a cassette is a skill worth learning and one I'm sure most people are not aware is possible. I'm surprised to learn wheels with a built in free wheel are still made. l stand to be corrected but most rear wheels have a standard thread onto which you screw either a freewheel hub and cassette of your choice, or a single fixed gear. a readily available and standard sized spinner tool is all that is needed to remove either and change it over. there are exceptions such as hub gear boxes which only have a single sprocket and built-in freewheel anyway.

OK. Well yes, the freewheel is in the hub, not the wheel. You can screw on a freewheel that has a single cog, like on a bmx, and now you have a singlespeed (the chainline between the chainwheel and cog will be way off). Or you can screw a single cog onto the wheel threads, even with a second nut, and it will unscrew and fall off the first time you put back pressure on the pedals, and you will not have a fixie. To make a fixed gear setup, one needs to lace the wheel to a (track) hub which has no freewheeling ratchet mechanism and has opposing lockring threads, or buy a wheel that has a fixed (track) hub that has opposing lockring threads laced onto it, or 'fix' your existing freewheeling hub as per my video.